West Coast/Canada Trip

In the Las Vegas area, you should check out Valley of Fire State Park. Amazing place. Nearby is Snowbird Mesa and Stewart Point, both popular book docking areas located on Lake Mead. I also suggest checking out the wheelingit blog, which gives great reviews of a lot of campgrounds and boon docking locations in the area you're planning to travel. Good luck!

Lots of things to do in the Northwest. We like razor clamming on the Washington coast. It so much fun and clams are the best you've ever eat....sooooo tasty.

PM me if you want a clam schedule.

If you heading from Yosemite to Las Vegas (or as some call it --'Lost Wages'), I suggest swinging through Death Valley along the way. The coast north of SF has the Redwoods and the world's tallest trees (100m+). Inland from the coast, NE California, has Lassen Volcanic NP and Lava Beds National Monument. Highway One, south of SF in the Big Sur area, is a world class scenic drive, and the road is twisted and narrow. Drivable in an RV, but you may not enjoy the experience. The Oregon coast is RV friendly, and very scenic. Southern Washington has Mt. St. Helens NM which erupted in 1980. Seeing how fast the area recovered from a barren moonscape to a young forest again is interesting. NW Washington has Olympic NP and a temperate conifer rain forest.

If you are heading between Bruce Canyon and Yellowstone you can stop at Arches NP, and Dinosaur National Monument. Several less popular smaller state and county parks in Utah may be worth a stop if you have time. You can spend two weeks at Yellowstone/Teton areas and still not see it all. Zion NP is close to Bryce, but you may find it is a lot like Ayers Rock -- big sandstone. Not too far off your route is Mesa Verde NP in Colorado and its cliff dwellings (apartment complexes, small self contained cities actually, housing several hundreds to a few thousand people, built between 900 and 1300 AD without wheels or metal). I am trying to think of sights you would not see in Australia. You are travelling all this way, so I would not want to steer you to something similar to what you can see at home.

As a general rule, you can free camp anywhere on National Forest and BLM public lands unless specifically prohibited in a local area. Conversely, National Parks do not allow free camping, restricted to designated spots only. Most National Parks are surrounded by National Forests and BLM lands, so you can free camp outside the NP, and drive in each day to see the sights. A bit of a bother that way, but it is cheaper (no campground fees and no campground regulations).

Depending on the winter, the higher mountain roads may not be open until June. June is when the SW starts heating up and Death Valley could easily hit 40c+ in June (the record in Death Valley is 56c). The coast will be fine any of the months.

Thanks for all your comments, appreciated.
Chris

If going to Glacier Park I would strongly recommend also going to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada that is the northern section of this area. There is easier access to parts of Glacier Park by crossing the lake with boats leaving hourly from the docks at Waterton.

For California the Tom Stienstra book "California Camping" is priceless. Great information on scenic areas, campsites by site and what is provided and it is organized geographically instead of alphabetically as is the case with most RV campground guides.

Instead of looking for tourist sites and alternative approach we are starting to take is looking for wildlife areas. Idaho for example has a lot more wildlife than Montana/Yellowstone. If you want to see a moose don't look in Yellowstone but in the wildlife refuges in Idaho.

We do allow hunting in our wildlife refuges and preserves so it is a good idea to know when the hunting seasons start and end in a given location so you can avoid these areas during your travels.

There is great information at the websites of the chambers of commerce for the states and towns and this includes some excellent brochures that can provide a lot of very useful information for trip planning. A lot of their free publications are better than the guide books for sale.

The United States Forest Service also sells maps for each of the national forests and these provide current information as to the roads that are open and camping facilities that are available.

Due to the weather and snow I would start out in April in the southwest and end the trip going through Yellowstone, Waterton, etc. in the June-July timeframe. Glacier NP and Yellowstone have roads that are not going to be open until June.

Bear in mind that Seattle is about 120 miles inland from the Pacific Coast and you have to go round either the north face or south face of the Olympic mountains to get to it.

The most direct that doesn't involve a ferry crossing is to go east from the Astoria/Ilwaco area, either on the Oregon or Washington side of the Columbia to Longview, then I-5 to Seattle. A second option is 101 north to Forks then Port Angeles. Take SR20 from 101 to Port Townsend, ferry to Coupeville, SR20 to Anacortes then Burlington and I-5 south to Seattle. You could also go north up the peninsula to Bremerton and take the ferry from there directly to downtown Seattle.

You'll have to go 15 miles or so outside Greater Seattle to find a CG. Property is too expensive in the city and close-in suburbs to use as a camp ground. Lake Pleasant, in Bothell, is probably the closest.

Rt. 101 up the Oregon/Washington coast is a wonderful route which you will enjoy. We did that whole area in our FW this summer.

When in the SF area you need to take the tour of Alcatraz. We stayed at the Novato RV Park across the bay from the city. It was a great place to stay with pull-thru sites. The sites were not that wide but it was extremely clean and well ran. All the campers seemed to be in the city all day so it was always quiet. The ferry was very cheap and only about 10 minutes down Rt. 101 from the CG. Public transportation is great in SF, driving your own car/truck is not so great.

Another great CG that sticks out in my mind is Premier RV in Lincoln City, Oregon. It is right on Rt. 101. We had a spot on the upper tier and could look out our back window and see the Pacific Ocean! On Friday evening the CG hosted a FREE happy hour around a gas fire pit. They provided all the food and no one went away hungry.

Except for Alaska, Rt. 101 on that coast is probably one of the most scenic, majestic drives for an RVer.

Canadian provinces have a Dept. of Tourism, which provides information for visitors including print guides. Contact each province for this guide.

To do so www.google.ca and use search term "name of province & tourism".

Visitors centers are run by the provinces. Municipalities may also run webpages helpful to tourists, but the larger tourist center is provincial.

I post this information because I have visited Australia. I was acutely disappointed to find that Aussie states aren't tuned in on the value of encouraging tourist $ via the visitors guide. It took me quite a bit of my 3 months visit to learn how to find the municipal offices with info both on where to camp and places I'd enjoy. Or, Camps Australia Wide only gives so much.

:C

Hi Lonny & Diane,
Thanks for the info.
Chris

To find free sites:
www.allstays.com (they do have apps)
http://www.allstays.com/c/camping-free.htm

www.recreation.gov for Corps of Engineers and BLM camping free or low cost.

for all camping: www.woodalls.com and www.rvparkreviews.com